Market Stand is Underway

I told some folks I'd have Green Beans today. I just checked them and I don't feel they are big enough to sell to these people. So, I am going to give them a bag of mixed vegetables as a way of appologizing to them.

I thought I'd stick in an English Burpless Cucumber, 2 or 3 Yellow Summer Squash, 5 or 6 nice Radishes, and maybe a Bell Pepper.

What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea? Keep my mouth shut from now on? LOL

I thought for sure they would be ready this morning. But, they need another day or two. Darn it!

I just finished making a sign to put out. It says:

"If you don't see it, it means I'm SOLD OUT of that item today.

Place your order today for the next available date of, Wednesday, Aug. 10th for:

Green Beans
Yellow Beans (Wax)
Cabbage
Turnips
Broccoli
Romaine Lettuce
English Cucumber
Regular Cucumber
Swiss Chard

Tomatoes - Soon - Keep Checking"

I'm sure those people would understand, Darrell. The bag you are offering is very generous.

I like your idea of the sign. This time of year, veggies are ripening right before your eyes it seems. My cherry tomatos that I thought would take another week, I had to pick from yesterday already. Now it will be a race to keep up. Much as I love them, I don't think it will be a hardship. :D

Have a good Sunday.

D.

Yes, I'd say that was pretty generous too, Darrell. People must realise that farmers and gardeners are constantly guestimating. Stand looks great.

I ended up having enough beans, so I didn't have to replace anything or give anything away. But I would have if I had goofed by telling them I "would" have their things but ended up not having them.

I'm closed today. I don't have anything to sell. I sold out of almost everything yesterday. Only a handfull of Radishes, a Pepper, one bunch of Onions, and 2 Zucchini's were left.

There were more people who wanted things, but I just didn't have it to sell. I thought to myself, "I'll have to plant more next year." Then I thought, "No way.....I can't handle what I'm doing NOW, how could I grow more?"

I'll have to be honest, I don't think I'm going to be able to do this. I don't have time to eat, I went to the bathroom once yesterday, and after the Market was closed, I had to carry all my things back to the house, then I started in working in the garden with watering the tomatoes, beans, squash, etc. It was dark by the time I finished outside. I made myself a bologna sandwhich, and went to bed.

I got up this morning at 5 and walked into the doorway, walls, stepped on the cats tail, stumbled over a boot I left laying, poured water in the coffee maker and forgot to put the pot under it, of course I didn't realize it untill I came back from the bathroom, so, I had a pot full of coffee to clean up.

At 5:30, I'm still staring out in space while I'm waiting for the water to get hot in the coffee maker, and the dog wants out. I let him out and the cats want fed. I feed the cats, sit down, and the dog wants in. I get up and let the dog in. While I'm standing in the door way letting him in, I glance over and look at my garden, then look at the vegetable stand, then I saw all the flowers blooming on the Petunia's, the squash, the cucumbers & tomatoes, and I smiled.

I thought to myself, "Ahhhhh, Life is good." and then I chuckled and said, "I wonder what the poor people are doing today?" :)

Darrell

This message was edited Aug 8, 2005 8:12 AM

Darrell, you've done an absolutely fabulous job. Nothing is worth your health, but stop and consider that it might be you just need to get used to the new routine. You could also modify your hours somewhat to ease the pressure, maybe close for an hour at lunch time and perhaps an hour earlier at the end of the day. Is most of your traffic early in the day? Just some thoughts from someone who is sometimes a little too tenacious for her own good :-) --Ginny

So far the traffic is after people get out of work, around 3PM.

Yesterday though, it was almost all day.

I think what I'll do is lock the cash box, put it on the other side of the fence out of sight. Then work in the garden while I'm waiting for a customer.

I think I might get a "Wireless Door Bell" too. Like a garage door opener, it will ring inside the house if someone is out there and I'm in the house. I wanted an old school bell, or some folks call them a farm bell. They'd ring it to call the feild hands in from the fields for lunch and dinner. But, those bells weigh about 40 pounds and even though I would more than likely buy a bell rather than a door bell, the shipping is rediculous, and I won't pay it.

Hope you don't give up Darrell. You have done so much work and accomplished so much, it would be a shame to let it all go. I agree with ginny, maybe if you reduced the hours to allow yourself time to relax a little and get other responsibilities done, perhaps you wouldn't feel quite so overwhelmed. I am sure you are also feeling elated about the success you are having too. WTG, Darrell.

Darrell, why not just open Thurs, Fri and Sat? Our Farmer's Markets here are just Saturdays.

Oh, I'm not giving up. I can't recall the last time I gave up on anything.

I'm a fighter, I just figure out different ways of doing things to make life a little easier. Like the Beans for example. I knew I wouldn't be able to bend over for any length of time, so I built those stairs. It made it a breeze for picking now. They're right in your eye site.

I agree with you darius, I think being open Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will be the route I take. Around here, pay day is on Thursday and Friday. Saturday, was pretty good for me, and Sunday was the best day of all. Of course, Sunday was my third day and some of the people were sent to me by other people who had already been there. One lady had 3 cars follow her to my place after they got out of church. lol

I have been thinking about joining our local Farmers Co-Op. If I do, I can buy and sell thru them. They're all reputable farmers/people. I've met a couple of them who stopped by my place Sunday. Nice people too. I'd never run out of vegetables if I joined, that's for sure.

Sounds like a Good Plan, Darrell. Plus, being open just 3-4 days will be easier on you, and have more crops to offer. Look for a used refrigerator for just-picked stuff to hold over, except tomatoes. NEVER refrigerate them!

Your right about the refrigerator and it's on my list of things I need to buy. (when I get the money) I have beans I picked and they are getting limp. If I had them in the refrigerator, I think they would have been ok. I'm going to put them in there now and see if they crisp up to what they were.

Soak them in cold water for an hour fiest.

They're soaking. Or, they were. lol

Now, they are in the refrigerator for overnight. If they start to feel limp again, I'll soak them again.

I think I'll tend to my garden all day tomorow. I have orders to fill for Wednesday, but I think I'll stay closed. When those people come to get their things, I'll let them know that my days and hours are going to be Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

If I weren't alone, I'd be open more, but I am alone, so I need to spread myself, but not to thin. :)

You know, I posted a lot of pictures as I went along with this project of having a Vegetable Market. It was in the other thread.

Looking back, I thought it might be fun to post what it use to look like and what it looks like today.

So, here we go again!!!

Before picture number 1.

Before Picture number 2

After Picture

Before

After

Sign near the road.

Before

Hard to believe, isn't it? A lot has changed, and look at the results. Ya done good, Darrell. :D

no wonder i'm pooped. :)

I can't seem to post the last couple pictures.

I'll try again later.

HI Darrell:

I'm a little concerned about your thoughts regarding joining the Farmer's Co-op.

My first thought was that folks will be looking to you for home-grown organic produce, and that what you get from the co-op will likely not be organic, and will be mass produced and picked, so quality will suffer greatly.

Also you have to look at the business side. I don't know if you've registered your business with the province, registered for GST (ot HST?), been inspected by the local Bd of Health, been keeping strict accounting of your expenses, with receipts and everything for your Income Tax, but those are all things you will have to likely do if you "go big time". Legally speaking, those are things you likely should have already done, but if you remain just a small concern the local authorities will most likely let you slip by. If you hitch up with the Co-op, you may have to do all those things.

Things may work a little differently in NB, as opposed to ON, but I'd certainly consult someone before I made the move. I can try and get local information from my friends in St Martens who run the Exotic Animal Farm, if you like, or at least have them forward the name of a reliable CA in the area that you could consult.

Really don't want to rain on your parade Darrell, but I've seen people get into too much grief by not knowing what they should before doing something like this.

Actually, I'm going to put this in your mailbox too, just to make sure you see it soonest.
~marilyn

Thank you for your concern, Marilyn. Everything has been taken care of. Not to worry. :)

Edited to correct spelling

This message was edited Aug 17, 2005 7:08 PM

Oh great - now I can let my breath out!

I was concerned about the bureaucratic aspect for a while (that's what comes of working for the government ), but hesitated to say anything because I didn't want to spoil your joy with your new enterprise.

So glad you had forethought.

I had my HST before I planted my garden. LOL

I had my HST and Dept of Ag was here. (Great people) and it was all taken care of way before I even planted the garden. :) I'm a stickler for, "all my ducks in a row."

That's wonderful to hear. If everyone was like you, I'd be out of a job

If you don't mind others using your design, I'd like to try and get my son to do a small version of your no-bend vegetable growing method for me next year.

I have only a few square feet available for growing my garden, so going partly vertical will give me some more room too,

How are the tomatoes coming?

~marilyn

Hey Darrell. Just wonderin' how the Market Stand has been going. We haven't heard from you for a while. --Ginny

Hey Ginny.

I forgot I had this thread going. lol

I've been posting "Market Growers" Forum.

The market is doing ok. I wish I could say it was fantastic, but I can't. This is my 7th week and I have squash and corn left to sell.

When I first started, I was open for about 4 hours and I sold out. I had to close up for about 4 days. When I re-opened, I sold out again. So, I closed again for a few days.

I got worried by the third time I sold out, that I would lose customers because they would drive all the way out here and find me closed or out of everything. So I talked with some people who I could buy wholesale from. I opened an account with them and filled my market with my produce and theirs.

What happened next was, I sold most everything I had but, I now had a bill to pay to the people I bought wholesale from. I ended up making about $20.00 for the entire week. I've done this wholesale buying for 4 weeks now and I've ended up in the whole $15.00

My bill with the wholesale people averaged right around $500.00 a week. So, I guess in a way, my first time doing this market with no advertising or anything, did ok. I just wish it had been my own produce and not purchased produce.

I met a lot of people and made a few new friends. I met my neighbors, after living here for 8 years. :) One guy down the road from me sells straw, hay, and turkeys. His turkeys for Thanksgiving average in weight about 30 pounds. The turkeys for Christmas are around 50 pounds. $2.00 a pound. I don't know about your area, but the turkeys in the grocery stores here are small. They look like a roasting chicken. Anyway, I told him I'd like one for Thanksgiving and he added me to his list.

I met the ladies down the road who have a riding stable. They teach riding and they do shows. They are giving me all their manure in the spring and fall for free. I had to pay $175.00 this year for a big dump truck full and I bought 2 dump truck loads. There's a big savings for me.

I met some of the local people who grow berry's. They will put their berry's in my stand next year. One is Raspberry, one is Highbush Blueberry, and the other one is Strawberry's. Sue, who owns "Harpers U-Pick", put a few of her raspberry's in my stand and offered me $1.00 for each one that sold. I told her 50 cents was good.

I'm not buying anything more from the wholesale people except personal things. I need a new Washing Machine, Freezer, and I think I'm going to get a wood burner too. When I place an order, it has to be $500.00 minimum. So, I'll order meet, for the freezer when I put in an order next month. Other than that, I'm not going to be purchasing anymore produce from them.

One good thing that came out of buying wholesale was I found out what people wanted and didn't want without growing rows of things and then find out later that I shouldn't have grown them at all. Eggplant was one that never sold. So, I won't plant any eggplant.

I had an entire row of white radishes that no one wanted. Personally, I like them, but no one else even knew what they were. They thought they were some kind of parsnip. So, what I did over the weekend, Saturday, was called one of the Chinese Restaurants and asked them if they would be interested. The guy wanted 20 pounds of them. I sent him 25 pounds and he paid $1.10 a pound. I don't know if you've ever seen them or had them, but they are pickled. When they are pickled, they turn yellow. They are usually in slices or cut into 2" sticks like show string potatoes. They're very good. I'm going to say the pickling ingredients would be the same as if you were pickling beets. Vineger, salt, sugar, and water of course.

Now I think I should call some of the other "up-scale" restaurants in the area and see if they might like my fresh produce next year. I would ask them what their needs might be next year and offer to grow some of the ingredients, (spices come to mind). If they agree, I'd offer some sort of contract with them, at special prices, (other than the market stand price), and I would at least have a base income each week in which to work with/from. Sales from the market stand would be the icing on the cake. :)

I have the excavating people here again next week to clear more land for me and raise the land up, level with the rest of what I have. I had some concern with flooding, so I have the land slightly built up so the water runs toward the ditches in the road, about 2 feet higher.

One of the people I met was the guy who delivers wood for my neighbor. (who is also a member here at Daves Garden. Ian46) He bought quite a lot of vegetables from me and the last time he was here I asked him if he would do some "stumpage" for me. (In case you don't know what "stumpage" is....it's when lumber people come in and come up about a foot from the base of the tree and then cut the tree down at that point, leaving the stump. It's always free and in a lot of cases, they pay you for the wood they take.) He said he was looking for a place where he might be able to get some more wood and he is going to do the stumpage this winter when it's easier to cut. I asked him if he had a used wood burner and he didn't. But he said a lot of people up-grade their stoves and when they do, they have the old one to get rid of. So, if that should happen, I'll get a used one, rather than a new one.

All in all, the market for this first year didn't do well. However, when I look at all the benefits I received this summer, i.e., meeting all the neighbors, the horse manure ladies, the wood guy, finding out what people buy and don't buy, coming up with the idea of calling restaurants, and all the berry people, I'd have to say my summer was great. I couldn't have asked for a better summer and it's all due to a lot of hard work and the market stand.

What fantastic news Darrell! As you say, the secondary benefits were well worth it, and I'm glad you made this opportunity for yourself. --Ginny

Congratulations Darrell. You turned a summer adventure into a great learning experience, and made new friends on the way. What a wonderful summer you've had!! Next year you'll make cash, hand over fist, I'm sure!
Christine

Thanks Ginny and Christine. :)